Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Welcome to Episode 7Over the weeks we have tried to post a new Episode of Sikhwithin every 2 weeks. This week we're a bit late on posting the latest episode. It is immediately available if you subscribe to this podcast through i-tunes.

For Episode 7 we have developed an outside broadcast special, keeping to the same format : Meanings, a translation, history/story and ending with Inspirational music.

This episode was recorded in Southall on 21st May. We travelled to different Gurdwaras. To give a visual insight, we have posted below some photographs from our evening tour. Also in this episode we are grateful for our audio support from Rohin Singh.

We visited Gurdwaras in Havlock Road, Park Avenue and Oswald Road.Each has its own interesting story.

Some of the early settlers of United Kingdom, in the late 1950s arrived in Southall, West London.

First Stop: Havlock Road GurdwaraThe first photograph shows the Havlock Road Gurdwara. It is one of the newest of Gurdwaras in West London (UK),costing I believe an estmated £17M. Its early foundation was a converted dairy back in the mid to late 1960s.

In the meanings section we talk about some of the important the themes of Sikhism for example, Equality of men and women and the importance of Human Rights. My thanks to Bhupinder Singh of http://www.sikhspirit.com. Back in 1999 during the Tricentenniel celebrations of the Khalsa they produced an excellent publication called Millennium Khalsa.

The second photograph shows us parked on the corner of one of the side road's off Havlock Road. It shows the wonderful Golden dome of the Gurdwara from a distance.

Second Stop: Park Avenue GurdwaraWe then proceeded to Park Avenue Gurdwara. I remember this Gurdwara building was originally a supermarket. It was set-up and enhanced while the Havlock Road Gurdwara was being built. It still remains as a Gurdwara today.

Our featured Shabad translation is from Snatam Kaur from her CD Shandi entitled: Hariaa (Strength). The full translation is shown below (see also sound issues!).

In English:I cannot mearsure your grace.You have made me worthy of you.I am full of faults.I have no virtue.You have been Compassionate to me.Merciful You have been and shown me Your grace.Thus I was blessed with the True Guru.Nanak says I can survive on the Holy name only;It rejuvenates (Naam is the nectar which makes man immortal and links him with God) my heart and soul.

The latter photograph's were taken from the railway bridge in Southall.

Final Stop: Oswald Road GurdwaraOur final stop was at Oswald Road Gurdwara. It is based in the most amazing location - in the centre of Southall - surrounded by houses behind one of Southall's hubs known as the Broadway.

It is at this Gurdwara we met a friend of mine - our special guest Jasprit Singh currently completing his MA in museum studies and working at the Victoria and Albert museum.

Jasprit Singh kindly helped with this weeks story - the origins of the Red Cross concept by a wonderful Sikh.

Although the podcast states that we couldn't get in. It was only at the time of recording. Afterwards someone kindly open the doors and we went inside.

The latter two photograph's show the inside of the Gurdwara at Oswald Road. As you can see there are some wonderful lighting and hanging displays.

Sound issuesWith this show unfortunately we had some audio issues. Basically, our portable recorder's microphone synchronisation function appeared to be playing up (pardon the pun). The result was a frequent 'cutting short' of the ends or beginning of sentences. We apologise for this. To help, additional supportive text has been included on this posting. We hope to produce more outside broadcasts, hopefully with improved equipment et al.

We close with some inspirational music from Paul Hardcastle from his CD Paul Hardcastle II entitled - You are the one and M People - Search for a Hero.

We will be grateful for any feedback.

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Monday, May 01, 2006

Although we are a day late from releasing our fortnightly programme, we have managed to book some studio time to improve the audio quality of our podcasts. You can listen to all the previous podcasts from the following URL:

Please take a listen and tell us what you think - including any suggestions you may have.

In this week's show we have 4 sections rather than the norrmal 5.

1. MeaningsThis week feature more exploration of the meaning of words such as Satnam, Sat Sri Akal and Waheguru with our special guest Sardar Pritam Singh

2. Shahbad TranslationThis week's shabad translation is called Suni-ia -listening sung by Snatam Kaur from the CD Shanti. It is available from Amazon or http://www.spiritvoyage.com/3. (History - not this week) but 4. A Story SectionIn addition, this week have a Guru Nanak story about how a robber Sajjan changed his ways from being a robber to someone who realised that his sins would be a heavy burden on his soul.The story is actually called Reclaims a dreaded robber.Ref: Biography of Guru Nanak by Professor Kartar Singh.

5. Inspirational songsWe close with some inspirational music from Stevie Wonder - A time to Love from the CD A time to love - suggesting that we have lots of ism's like racism but we really need to make time to love.

We finish the show with a snippet from a Simon Webbe track called Sanctuary from the CD Sanctuary.

This week's backing Track is:From Dya Singh (Australia) CD Naam the inner Journey.Availability of this Podcasti-tunes - ImmediatelyPodcast & Podfeed - Now availableFeedburner (see the orange sound wave logo next to the footprint in the right hand column) - Now available.

We look forward to your feedback and suggestions.You can leave a public comment here or email us on (you'll need to remove the following text from the email: remove this and remove this2 to reveal the full email address):